Fig. 1

H2AX loss leads to impaired motor balance and general locomotor activity. a Rotarod tests reveal reduced motor coordination in H2AX knockout mice. Testing was conducted over 3 days with 2 days of training trials. Each mouse was then given three to four trials and latency to fall off the rotarod was measured as it accelerated from 4 to 40 rpm over a 5 min period; y-axis, the latency to fall off in seconds, x-axis, number of trials. Each trial value relates to the average of the latency to fall off (in sec) for the total number of animals used per genotype. Statistical significance was determined by a two-tailed, unpaired Student’s t-test; n = 7 (means ± s.e.m.) for H2AX wild type, n = 8 (means ± s.e.m.) for H2AX knockout; *P < 0.05, ns non-significant (P = 0.8570). Left panel represents data for 8-week-old mice; right panel summarizes data for 5-month-old mice. b Open-field testing demonstrated that wild-type mice were significantly more active than H2AX knockout mice as measured by horizontal activity; y-axis, beam breaks, x-axis, 3 min intervals. Left panel represents data for 8-week-old mice; right panel summarizes data for 5-month-old mice. Statistical significance was determined by a two-tailed, unpaired Student’s t-test; n = 7 (means ± s.e.m.) for H2AX wild type, n = 8 (means ± s.e.m.) for H2AX knockout; ***P < 0.0001, ns non-significant (P = 0.1311). c Measurement of the rearing activity in open-field testing demonstrated that wild-type mice were rearing more actively compared with the mutant mice; y-axis, beam breaks, x-axis, 3 min intervals. Left panel represents data for 8-week-old mice; right panel summarizes data for 5-month-old mice. Statistical significance was determined by a two-tailed, unpaired Student’s t-test; n = 7 (means ± s.e.m.) for H2AX wild type, n = 8 (means ± s.e.m.) for H2AX knockout; ***P < 0.0001, ns non-significant (P = 0.5413). The same mice used for the rotarod analyses are utilized for the open field tests following the same time points (8 weeks and 5 months)